Food
Cheese
Introduction
Our tasting of 27 cheeses - including bries, aged cheddars and creamy blues - found many failed to impress.
Cheese prices have softened this year after reaching record highs in 2008. But this staple of the Kiwi diet remains something of a luxury. If you’re splashing out for cheese, you want to know you’re getting quality. You may be disappointed to hear many cheeses in our tasting were decidedly average.
We also look at the fat and sodium content of many common cheeses, and answer some common questions.
About our tasting
Our expert panel tasted 11 bries, 7 aged cheddars and 9 creamy blue cheeses to find the best. We bought the cheeses from supermarkets, selecting brands which are widely available.
Our panel
Thanks to our panel members:
- Jane Ritchie: a tour guide with Wellington company Zest Food Tours. Jane also worked with Alison Holst for many years testing recipes.
- Martin Russek: a chef at the Wellington Institute of Technology and a New Zealand culinary judge.
- Neil Willman: a cheese expert who teaches cheesemaking here and in Australia. Neil is a tutor at the New Zealand Cheese School and is also the master judge of the Cuisine Champion of Cheese awards.
Brie
A good brie should have a soft, creamy centre and a melt-in-your-mouth taste. This wasn’t the case with most of the bries our panel tasted.
None were outstanding but these four were the best of the bunch: Kaimai Brie, Longbush Brie, Ornelle Brie and Waimata Gold Brie.
The rest only managed a “fair” or “below average” rating. Rather than being soft and creamy, our panel found the worst bries were “rubbery” and “bland”. Unfortunately, when you’re buying a pre-packaged brie you can’t tell much about its quality until you get home and cut into it.
Panel member and expert cheese maker, Neil Willman, says bries sold in supermarkets are often made to have a longer shelf-life than would be normal for this cheese. Generally, brie is ready to eat four or five weeks after packing. But you can find brie in supermarkets that has been around a lot longer. This can affect the quality.
Guide to the table
- Products are listed in alphabetical order within categories. All products were bought in Wellington supermarkets between 15 and 18 May 2009.
Aged cheddar
Aged cheddar is matured anywhere from one to three years (in comparison, mild cheddars are matured for just three to four months).
Age will make good cheddar better – though it won’t make a bad cheese good. Some manufacturers clearly state on the label how long the cheddar has been maturing but others don’t: the packaging may say “Aged” or “Vintage” but there’s no indication of how old it actually is.
As with the bries, our panel didn’t think any of the aged cheddars were exceptional. Tops for taste were: Ferndale Old Southern Waxed Aged Cheddar, Kaimai Mature Cheddar, Puhoi Valley Aged Cheddar and Mainland Cheddar Masters Epicure.
The latter had been maturing for 36 months and the Ferndale for 24 months. However, labels on the two other cheddars didn’t state the age of the cheese.
Of the cheddars rated “below average”, one was a “club cheese”. This was Mersey Valley Club Cheddar, an Australian import. Club cheese is not real cheddar: it’s made by milling ordinary cheddar – or blends of different cheddars – and forming the pieces back together into a block. The taste is very different from traditional cheddar and this is something to be aware of if you want the real thing.
As a club cheese, the Mersey Valley was OK, says panel member Neil Willman. But all panel members agreed it fell well short of ideal for an aged cheddar.
Guide to the table
- Products are listed in alphabetical order within categories. All products were bought in Wellington supermarkets between 15 and 18 May 2009.
- Cheeses are New Zealand-made except Mersey Valley Club Cheddar, which is from Australia.
Creamy blue
If you’re a cheese aficionado, a good blue is hard to resist. Creamy blues are a variation of true blue vein and have a more subtle taste. They’re sometimes viewed as a blue cheese for beginners. However, both beginners and cheese connoisseurs may be disappointed with the choices on supermarkets shelves.
Of the nine creamy blues our panel tasted, only three were rated “good”: Galaxy Creamy Blue, Kapiti Kikorangi and Mainland Special Reserve Creamy Blue. Four rated “fair” and two rated “below average”. The below average blues were creamy but they lacked “good veins” and a “good blue flavour”.
If you’re watching your weight, be aware that creamy blues are a high-fat cheese. They can have a staggering 44 percent fat of which around two-thirds is saturated fat. Standard blue vein is 28 percent fat, brie is 31 percent fat, and cheddar about 37 percent (see Cheeses compared for the fat content of more cheeses).
We suggest you consider high-fat cheeses an occasional indulgence and serve with a low-fat cracker (see our crackers report) or another low-fat base.
Guide to the table
- Products are listed in alphabetical order within categories. All products were bought in Wellington supermarkets between 15 and 18 May 2009.
Is it nutritious?
The goodies
All cheeses are good sources of calcium, because they are essentially concentrated milk. The highest calcium content is usually in firm cheeses, like cheddar. Feta, blue vein and soft cheeses, like brie, have less calcium.
Cheese is also good for your teeth. The calcium and phosphorus help prevent mineral loss, the flavour encourages production of saliva which washes sugar from around the teeth, and there's no sugar in cheese.
Fat
By now, we all know that saturated fat is bad for us. Too much saturated fat can raise your levels of 'bad' LDL cholesterol, as well as promoting blood clotting, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Many cheeses have extra cream added to them and will usually have "double cream" in their name. This is a good indication they will be high in fat. Double cream camembert, for example, has 40 percent fat.
Reduced fat cheddars have about a third less saturated fat than typical cheddar, but are still considered high fat foods at more than 20 percent fat.
Cheeses with less than 10 percent fat are cottage cheese and ricotta. Cream cheese has more than 30 percent fat.
Salt
Salt is essential to the production of cheese. It adds flavour and texture and helps give the cheese a longer life. But too much sodium (the main constituent in salt) can raise blood pressure in some people, contributing to strokes and heart disease.
Feta and smoked processed cheddar have the highest salt content, whereas ricotta and creme fraiche are the best choices if you are watching your salt intake. Gruyere is the least salty of the hard cheeses.
See Cheeses compared for a detailed nutritional comparison of a range of common cheeses.
Cheeses compared
We looked at the fat content, energy and sodium in common types of cheese.
Guide to the table
Type of cheese
We surveyed types of cheese commonly found in supermarkets. Cheeses are listed by energy content.
Fat content
Creamy blue cheeses contain 44 percent fat. All other fat amounts are given as a proportion of this.
Nutrition information per 100g
Information is an average of the brands we found for each cheese type. Check the nutrition information panel for details on specific brands.
Cheesy questions
Why is tasty cheddar tasty and mild cheddar mild?
The main reason for the difference in flavour is age. The longer the cheese has been ripened and stored, the tastier it becomes. Mild cheeses are matured for three to four months, tasty cheeses for nine to 12 months, and vintage or matured cheeses one to three years.
Gruyere cheese
How do the holes get into gruyere?
A bacterial culture that produces gas is added to the milk in the manufacture of these cheeses. The cheeses are stored in a warm temperature during ripening. As the bacteria grow, bubbles of gas, usually carbon dioxide, form in the curd.
What is vegetarian cheese?
Many cheese-making processes use rennet taken from calf stomachs. Veggie cheeses use rennet from fungal, bacterial or artificial sources. Otherwise, they are much the same as regular cheeses - they're not lower in fat as some people believe.
What makes blue cheese blue?
Mould spores added to the milk are responsible for the flavour, texture, and colour of blue cheeses. These moulds need to "breathe", so the cheese is pierced with wires to let oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. The moulds form along the veins of the pierce holes.
Different strains of mould spores, different ways of treating the curd, storage temperatures and salt content all produce different blue cheeses.
Why is mozzarella so stretchy and parmesan so crumbly?
When cheeses are young, their protein structure is largely intact, which makes them smooth and elastic. Mozzarella is a very young cheese. Parmesan, on the other hand is old. Its proteins have broken down, so the cheese crumbles readily. Mozzarella is made even more stretchy by a process of heating, stretching and kneading.
Is processed cheese really cheese?
Processed cheese is a range of natural cheeses that have been ground up, heated and melted together. An emulsifier has been added to keep it smooth and soft, and flavours and colours may have been added.
The heating kills the microbiological culture so the cheese no longer matures and the product maintains a consistent flavour and texture. Some processed cheeses are made with reduced fat.
What is the white stuff on the outside of brie and camembert?
It's a penicillium mould called a bloom, which has either been added to the milk or sprayed onto the moulded cheese. The bloom is quite safe to eat and adds to the flavour of the cheese. If you store a cut cheese, the bloom sometimes grows over the cut surface. This may help to keep the cheese fresh.
How can I tell when a brie or camembert is ready?
If you can't tell by the squeeze or look, check the use-by date. If it's still weeks away, the cheese is unlikely to have a soft, flowing centre. Though the storage temperature will have some influence, generally these cheeses are ready to eat four or five weeks after packing.
Can I speed up the softening of these cheeses?
Camembert and brie ripen from the outside to the inside. The bloom produces enzymes which change the structure of the protein and transform it to a sticky paste. Keep unripe cheeses at room temperature if you want to eat them soon. Refrigeration will slow the ripening.
Soft cheeses have the best flavour and texture if they are served at room temperature. Take the cheese out of the fridge at least two hours before you serve it. In an emergency, you can give it a ten second zap in the microwave, but be careful - too long in the heat and the fat and curd are likely to separate and the cheese will lose its creaminess. However, you can't use a microwave to ripen an unripe cheese.
What cheeses should I avoid if I'm pregnant?
Pasteurisation of the milk and good cheese-making practices mean New Zealand cheeses rarely contain disease-causing bacteria. But it's wise for pregnant women to avoid soft cheeses, like camembert, brie and blue, which may contain listeria bacteria if they have not been handled carefully.
Our advice
Buying advice
- Shop around: You’re likely to find brands other than those in our tasting in delis or specialist cheese shops. These stores often give you the opportunity to try before you buy. This is a good way to find out what you’re getting before you hand over any money. With pre-packaged supermarket cheeses, you don’t have this option.
- Price: This isn’t necessarily a good indicator of quality. There was often little price difference between the “good” and “below average” cheeses in our tasting. If you’re trying something new from the supermarket cheese cabinet, we suggest you buy a small quantity first to see if you like it.
- Medals: Some cheeses carry gold or silver medals indicating their place in cheese awards. A medal doesn't mean a cheese is necessarily better than a cheese without a medal: some cheesemakers don’t enter competitions. Cheeses entered into competitions are also hand-picked by the cheesemaker.
Storing and serving
- Cheese is best stored in a sealed container in the fridge to prevent it drying out or going mouldy once opened.
- Store different kinds of cheeses in separate containers.
- Wrap the cheese in wax paper or similar before storing.
- Serve cheese at room temperature.
Nutrition
- When it comes to healthy eating, it's important to think about the balance of your whole diet and not just pick on certain foods. If you can't get by without your daily cheese fix, go for lower-fat varieties or use less.
- In cooking, you can make up for using less by opting for cheese with a stronger flavour such as parmesan. In sandwiches and on crackers, you can reduce your cheese consumption by using thinner slices.
Report by Jessica Wilson and Belinda Allan.